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Cape Town African City of Opportunity www.pwc.co.za/cities Cape Town performs well in South Africa and the continent. Now it looks to the world. Cities of Opportunity are more than just places of work or travel. To the millions of people who live in and visit them, they are the communities, people and stories that make up everyday life. In our view, the cities that will succeed in the future are those that can provide a balance between economic and physical security, nurtured aspiration and quality of life and environment. Picture provided by The City of Cape Town This influx of people brings with The first question involves it an influx of human problems. organisational strategy, performance At the same time, cities like Cape and capabilities – and is the subject of Foreword Town are experiencing a wider set our Future Cities model – introduced of global megatrends. These include briefly on page 15. technological breakthroughs and social changes that transform the nature The second question forms the basis of work and the role of government, of this report, in which we have global economic shifts that require benchmarked Cape Town against cities to redefine themselves to compete the 30 cities featured in our seventh internationally, and climate change and annual report. These are global centres resource scarcity that threaten lives and of finance, commerce and culture livelihoods. The latter could hardly be and represent among them a sizeable illustrated more vividly than by Cape proportion of the world economy. But Town’s current water crisis. 2 Although Cities of Opportunity contends that ‘Day Zero’ is no longer expected in urban success means more than just 2018, the region is still suffering the spending power: It requires a balance worst drought in more than 300 years, of social, economic and environmental In 2008, the world’s urban and this may still make it the first major factors to provide the best quality of life population passed the 50% mark, city in the world to turn off the water for citizens. meaning that, for the first time, you taps. On current trends, it is unlikely to Our findings across the ten indicator were more likely to live in a city than be the last. areas describe a city with strong elsewhere. 1 But the megatrends also bring great fundamentals, aspiring talent and In the same year, in an attempt to opportunities to cities that can grasp a palpable excitement, set against a understand the characteristics that them. New ways of working empower backdrop of inequality, which is borne would help the growing cities of the staff, digital government engages out of the country’s past but which will future succeed, PwC launched its citizens and green technologies promise play a role in the city’s future. first Cities of Opportunity report. not only to fight climate change but Notable strengths include the city’s Ten years and seven editions later, to end many of the other downsides transport system, its business-friendly we turn our attention to one of of urbanisation; pollution, waste, environment, the cost of living and Africa’s great opportunities: The City congestion and issues of public health. doing business, and its natural beauty. of Cape Town. Implications for government, aside While urbanisation has so far lagged from the current water crisis, include behind in Africa, this cannot be said Cape Town is at a strengthening local, national, public of the continent’s most developed and private collaboration, fully country, South Africa, where 55% of crossroads between embracing digital technology and data, people now live in towns and metros, African problems and and building on the success of tourism. and their number grows by 2% every global ambitions. Its All of these areas will be explored year. future success will further in the following pages. 1 50.46%, see: World Urbanization depend on its ability We would like to extend our thanks to Prospects, United Nations to solve longstanding various individuals who engaged with Population Division (2008). us on this project, and provided us with problems at home their views on the city they live and while keeping up with a work in. Particular thanks must go to the City of Cape Town and the Western rapidly changing world. Cape Government whose insights have allowed us to present not only the city In order to succeed in a changing as it is today, but the detailed plans that world, Cape Town must understand its are currently being put into place to position relative to other global cities. build the city of tomorrow. This involves answering two questions: Cape Town has played an important • How do they do things? role in South African's history. We now look to the future of this African City of • How well do they do? Opportunity. 2 Note that the water crisis does not dominate this report’s findings. Although the fieldwork was carried out before the Jon Williams 2017-18 crisis, Cape Town did score poorly for Water-related business risk (27th of 31 Head of Cities & Urbanisation cities). However, this had limited effect on PwC Africa its overall ranking as the 66 scores in this study are equally weighted and no one factor outweighs another. Contents About the study 6 Future Cities 12 How Cape Town compares 18 Tools for a changing world 28 Quality of life 44 Economics 62 Implications 76 Acknowledgements 82 Appendices This publication has been prepared for general guidance on matters of interest only, and does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication, and, to the extent permitted by law, PwC does not accept or assume any liability, responsibility or duty of care for any consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained in this publication or for any decision based on it. About the study 6 PwC Cape Town – African city of opportunity 7 About the study Cities of Opportunity The first edition of the global Cities The measures we use are selected Transparency, simplicity, of Opportunity study was developed to develop an accurate reflection of consistency and balance in 2007 by PwC in collaboration with that balanced city. This shows the the Partnership for New York City. connection that exists between good Cities of Opportunity is based on The question which gave birth to this economic, social and environmental publicly available data supported by study was what New York had to do to indicators. Among the 10 indicators, extensive research, using three main remain competitive on the world stage five correlate in a close positive pattern sources: after the existential events of 9/11. – Intellectual capital and innovation; • Global multilateral development The purpose of this study continues Health, safety and security; Ease of doing organisations such as the World to be to comparatively measure the business; Technology readiness; and Bank and the International performance of a range of global cities Demographics and liveability. In other Monetary Fund; against a set of 10 indicators, which words, when one goes up, the others jointly provide a holistic view on how tend to do so as well. For example, the • National statistics organisations successful cities thrive in sustainable indicators from the 2011 global study such as UK National Statistics and urban development. found that health and intellectual Statistics SA; and capital correlated to a striking +87%. Like cities, the research itself continues • Commercial data providers. to evolve and the analysis has grown The 10 data indicator groups are based For the Cape Town study, this data was from the 11 cities included in the first on 66 variables which jointly provide collected in 2017, but in most cases, edition to the 30 cities covered today. an image of city success. In this robust it pertains to 2015 or 2016 to allow The group of global cities in the study sampling of variables, each individual for a fair comparison with the other is determined by three indicators: variable has to be: Relevant; consistent cities, the data for which was collected They are capital market centres, with across the sample; publicly available as part of the seventh global study in vibrant economies and a good quality and collectible; current; free of 2016. This means that some care should of life. Each year this set of cities is re- skewing from local nuances; and truly be taken in using the statistics in this assessed, with upcoming cities joining reflective of a city’s quality or power. report as current – some variables the ranks while those falling back in See Appendix A for an overview and change frequently and this report is a their development being removed. The definitions of the variables. snapshot in time. challenge of developing a city, keeping it on top and evolving with changing Data is normalised, where appropriate, The Cape Town study uses all of the 67 needs, is the dynamic we are seeking minimising the likelihood of a city indicators in the seventh global report to illuminate. The hypothesis for this doing well solely because of its size and bar one: Airport to CBD access. This global research is that the more well- historic strength. This is usually done variable, which was also not included balanced a city is socially, economically using land area, population or changes in the 2014 Into Africa study, compares and environmentally, the better it over time so that, for example, GDP airport access on the basis of rail links will fare for businesses, residents and growth is used rather than nominal rather than access to the city centre per visitors.

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